Outage
by Shipperwolf
Summary: Pepper, working late in the Stark mansion, finds herself in the dark, literally...with Tony Stark just down the hall. TS/PP. rating for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

'Elo fine ppl! well, it seems i loved writing that ironman fic so much...i had to write another. and this one is gonna be multi-chapter...yaaaay! :D

anywho, ehh...i must apologize in advance; when writing a multichap fic i have a terrible habit of writing VERY short chapters, sooo, yeah. sorry lol.

also: to everyone who read and reviewed my 1st IM fic, thanks so very much, it made me feel all squishy inside, or sompin.

ok, to the fic! Disclaimer: i...er...disclaim. :P

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Pepper Potts was the epitome of 'working overtime'. A deep darkness had long since fallen over the Stark mansion, and Tony Stark himself had long since called it a night. Pepper, however, still sat in one of the guest rooms, now her makeshift office, typing away at her computer like a starved chicken pecking at freshly thrown feed.

She faintly recalled Tony bidding her goodnight, trying to prod her into closing her laptop and going home, and then huffing and throwing a hand in the air when she ignored him.

That had been….several hours earlier. Pepper stopped typing briefly to look about the room. Everything was still and silent; Pepper knew, however, that she was never alone in the Stark home.

Lifting her head, she habitually looked up at the ceiling.

"Jarvis?"

After a mere second of continued silence the AI system responded in its wonderfully polite tone,

"**Yes, Miss Potts?"**

Pepper smiled. She had always liked Jarvis from the moment it (he?) was created.

"Mr. Stark has gone to bed, correct?"

"**Yes, Miss Potts--he retired to his room approximately three hours ago--it is now 2:23 AM, and if I may say so, far past your bedtime, Miss Potts."**

The AI's plays at humor were always fun to hear, and Pepper found herself smiling even wider.

It seemed despite her long hours of working, that she was in an unusually good mood.

It was, perhaps, because she had nearly finished organizing the hundreds of files regarding interviews and appointments for Mr. Stark, and once that was done, she could finally go home and rest…or possibly crash on the bed that lay not 3 feet from where she sat--it depended on how tired she was once she was done.

And so, flexing her fingers and shaking away any sleepy feelings that threatened to overwhelm her, Pepper began to once again type away at her laptop.

Until a bright light flared through the window…and her laptop, along with every light on in the house, abruptly went out.

Pepper sat quietly, momentarily confused, until a low rumble from outside met her ears.

Thunder.

A thunderstorm.

The power was out.

And all of her work…very possibly lost.


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper sat still, staring at her computer as a small light flickered at its base, signaling that the battery was keeping it running.

Hopeful that her work was not lost, she opted to unplug it from the wall to prevent the modem from being struck by lightning.

She looked up again, and when she spoke, she was surprised that her voice came as a whisper:

"Jarvis?"

Pepper waited, but it seemed the AI had been knocked offline.

The thunder outside gave way to a pouring rain, so loud that the thunder itself was somewhat muted. Flashes of light brightened the room every few minutes, and Pepper wondered how she had missed the weather report on the news that day.

Deciding she had worked enough for one night, she stood, stretched and yawned, not terribly worried of the storm outside.

The wind was not blowing hard enough to merit anything more than a thunderstorm, and it seemed to Pepper that if it had come quickly, it was likely to pass quickly.

The bed beside her seemed to scream "SLEEP", but as she began to crawl into it, footsteps sounded down the hall.

Tony had awakened, and was on his way to bother her out of boredom.

A strange urge to panic swept over her, its origins unknown as she bit her bottom lip.

Eyeing the bed, Pepper was considering jumping in, covering her head, and pretending to be asleep…

Such was impossible, however, because just as she moved to pull back the blanket, a glow filled the room.

There Tony stood, one hand on the doorframe and the other scratching lazily at his head, looking at her with tired but sparkling eyes.

Those eyes, however--as much as she secretly loved them-- were not the focus of her attention.

Pepper swallowed.

Tony was wearing nothing but a pair of bright red boxers.

And he looked absolutely adorable.


End file.
